Avinash Sable set a new games record to win the gold medal at the Asian Games 2023.
A first-ever Avinash Sable became the first Indian to win gold in the 3000m steeplechase at the Asian Games on Sunday. With a time of 8:19.50 seconds, the 29-year-old national record holder earned India its first gold medal in athletics at the current Games. Sable broke Iran’s Hossein Keyhani’s old Asian Games mark of 8:22.79 established in the 2018 Jakarta Games. Sudha Singh won the women’s 3000m steeplechase gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
The defending champion, who has a personal best javelin throw of 52.55m, achieved only 45.13m in the penultimate event of the two-day competition.
Swapna was positioned fourth overall with 4840 points, 11 points behind China’s Jingyi Liu before of the 800m race, the final event of the seven-event championship.
Nandini Agasara, the other Indian competitor, set a personal best of 39.88m in the javelin throw, moving her up to fifth overall.
Swapna Barman had earlier in the day jumped 5.71m in the long jump, while Nandini Agasara produced a season-best jump of 5.94m.
The six-toed Indian athlete had considered retiring last year after her career was ruined by a spinal injury. But she gave it one last go and came to Hanghzou to defend her crown.
This year, she won the Inter-State tournament as well as a silver medal in preparation for the Asian Games. She also avoided surgery in order to avoid missing training due to a sore back.
“However, her body condition couldn’t keep up, and she didn’t get off to a good start,” her coach Subhash Sarkar told PTI.
“She was expecting a good result in high jump but a fourth place finish shattered her and she couldn’t recover from there,” he stated.
Swapna jumped 1.70m, which came far short of her personal best of 1.87m.
“Her morale was affected by the poor start, and it showed in today’s javelin throw event.” “It’s as good as over,” Sarkar remarked of Swapna’s chances this time.
Earlier, Amlan Borgohain of India finished third in the men’s 200m heats with a time of 21.08 seconds and went to the semifinal.
The top three athletes in each heat advance to the semi-finals. The top four times from all heats who did not make the cut will also proceed to the semifinals.
Assam’s fastest sprinter presently holds both the men’s 100m and 200m national records.
Jyothi Yarraji, on the other hand, did not make the cut for the women’s 200m final. The Indian ran in 23.78 seconds.
Yarraji, on the other hand, is a medal contender in the women’s 100m hurdles.
